Interesting, funny, weird, and suspect things seen in West Coast Rap since 2000

[Teddy Roosevelt]

the funniest thing for me is

Afroman went Gold and was the second best selling westcoast artist that year ? erm in fact can any one confirm that for me

I think you're right. And Tha Eastsidaz' "Duces 'N Trayz: The Old Fashioned Way" was also up there.

[R-Tistic]

-i think the west coast needs a 'new generation' of artists.. feel me on this... the early 90s everyone was looking for dre, snoop and cube.. the late 90s, everyone looking for dre, snoop and cube... the late 2000s, everyone still checking for dre, snoop and cube.. meanwhile, you see the east go thru generations of music (from wu-tang to bad boy, to roc a fella to g-unit), the south went from scarface to ugk to no limit, to all the various atl-texas rappers.. we need new sounding west coast artists.

-Definitely so....the east, south, and midwest have seen numerous generations of music to drop. I think some of the west coast OG's would rather stay in the spotlight with rappin versus helpin out some youngsters, even though they preach it. At the same time....many people have said that Snoop, Mack 10, and Cube were terrible as CEO's and that they were tryin to do over their artists, which might be why their companies all collapsed...and even though he's still new, the same might be said about Game.

-west coast doesnt have a powerhouse music label to push their artists.. like it or not, jerry heller and suge knight did their thing. they made sure we heard the music they wanted us to buy over and over.. there is no music exec willing to spend lots of time and money in the background of the business to push the music.. i wish someone like damon dash would move to the west, sign a bunch of artists and just go to work on them..

Yeah we definitely need a new label to do somethin for us. Right now, I think the sound of the west is lost, so most companies won't really be able to have one style and sound that they can push like most major companies have had.....Death Row, Ruthless, No Limit, Roc-a-fella, Cash Money, usually had similar sounding artists who fit into the same sort of image, and their music had a similar sound to it. Even with Aftermath, their artists have all been very different, but it's somethin about the darkness to their sound that people still identify with. I think a new upcoming west coast company will be best off if it can do the same thing as these labels....because I can see a new company coming out with talented artists who may be too different to really promote as a whole you know. But we haven't had any new labels to do anything period.

[Sikotic™]

I personally though with the exception of In The Mid-Nite Hour, all of Warren's albums were better produced than The Hard Way.

[WestCoasta]

I've always viewed 2002 as the year everything suddenly stopped and got worse on the West

I also think the Death Row vs. Snoop thing goin on then had more of an impact than people realize...

who knows, maybe it was then that Dr. Dre said fuck y'all, we know he doesn't wanna get involved in beef... let alone with Suge

sounds stupid, but shit really got fucked up when Kurupt left the Dogg Pound

it seems everybody was beefin at that time, yes - everybody

and shit hasn't been the same since.... take it how ya want

[acgrundy]

I find it funny how unbelievably fuckin stupid it was for the dpg to breakup.  So kurupt goes back to deathrow, daz cries.  tons of diss tracks go back and forth.  No good music is made on either side, then like 4 years later they get back together and make music like nothing ever happened.  Talk about fuckin stupid.  Like dude said I think that opened the gateway for westcoast beefs.

[R-Tistic]

I've always viewed 2002 as the year everything suddenly stopped and got worse on the West

I also think the Death Row vs. Snoop thing goin on then had more of an impact than people realize...

who knows, maybe it was then that Dr. Dre said fuck y'all, we know he doesn't wanna get involved in beef... let alone with Suge

sounds stupid, but shit really got fucked up when Kurupt left the Dogg Pound

it seems everybody was beefin at that time, yes - everybody

and shit hasn't been the same since.... take it how ya want

That does sound at least a bit accurrate....and I even think that Dre and Snoop's disagreements hurt the west more than we might know. It was very strange that Dre worked with Snoop on two albums, but then had NO presence on anything related to Snoop or the Dogg Pound for a good 2-3 years after 2001 and The Wash. And that was the same time that Dre once again solidified his name as the top producer, with hits like "In da club". Snoop worked with 50 Cent, but the only time he did anything with Dre was through 50 or someone else like that. I remember that Snoop was mad because Dre was so quick to diss JD, but didn't say anything about Suge after Suge did a LOT more than JD ever did to him. And although we hoped this small incident wouldn't mean much, they might as well have had beef because Dre didn't do any work on two Snoop albums, any of Snoop's compilations or affiliated albums, or 213's album.

[R-Tistic]

I find it funny how unbelievably fuckin stupid it was for the dpg to breakup.  So kurupt goes back to deathrow, daz cries.  tons of diss tracks go back and forth.  No good music is made on either side, then like 4 years later they get back together and make music like nothing ever happened.  Talk about fuckin stupid.  Like dude said I think that opened the gateway for westcoast beefs.

When I was watching the "Beef" series, they showed a clip of Kurupt bein on 106 n Park with Suge, and I had completely forgotten about that episode. I remembered watching it, and thinkin like damn, Kurupt really doesn't seem comfortable with them.

The only time I ever met Kurupt was at a July 4th picnic at Kenneth Hahn. I remember Kurupt played "I never changed" for me n my homeboy, and he was rappin along with the lyrics, and it looked like he was about to cry. It did seem shady that he got dissed by all of his "homeboys"...but at the same time, he should have realized how bad of a decision it was to get back with them after everything that his homeboys had gone through with Death Row....from him being on an album called "Escape from Death Row", to DR puttin out all types of music that they had all worked on just for Death Row's own profit, to them blatantly insulting the hell out of Snoop by calling an album "Dead man walking" and putting Snoop in all red in a casket on the back. So It would only make sense that they wouldn't be able to remain cool if he was workin back with Death Row like that.

And even though they are cool now...I wonder if the fact that they let Kurupt come back is related to why we don't see Bad Azz anywhere near them anymore. To me, him and Soopafly were the only strong future that the Dogg Pound camp had left, because Kurupt, Daz, Snoop, Nate are all gettin older and have already made their mark in the industry.

[King Tech Quadafi]

lol @ some of this shiit

warreng> 213s production

that album remains, the biggest disappointment ever

any of warrens albums production > 213 beats

[WestCoasta]

The only time I ever met Kurupt was at a July 4th picnic at Kenneth Hahn. I remember Kurupt played "I never changed" for me n my homeboy, and he was rappin along with the lyrics, and it looked like he was about to cry. It did seem shady that he got dissed by all of his "homeboys"...but at the same time, he should have realized how bad of a decision it was to get back with them after everything that his homeboys had gone through with Death Row....from him being on an album called "Escape from Death Row", to DR puttin out all types of music that they had all worked on just for Death Row's own profit, to them blatantly insulting the hell out of Snoop by calling an album "Dead man walking" and putting Snoop in all red in a casket on the back. So It would only make sense that they wouldn't be able to remain cool if he was workin back with Death Row like that.

ya.... it was ultimately Kurupt's fault, really hard to understand why he didn't think they'd get mad...

[King Tech Quadafi]

lol@ kurupt rappin and damn near cryin

[T-Dogg]

-Many people didn't even give 213's album much of a chance because of the fact that Warren didn't produce on it...although the production was as good or even better than every Warren produced album that wasn't his debut, "Regulate: The G-Funk era"

I gotta disagree right off the bat. Warren's production has been some bangin shit all the time. I think the record only had one or two beats that were on the level Warren's instrumentals have been on. In my humble opinion the whole project was a wasted effort with no Warren G production. There's a couple cool tracks on there, MLK to name one, but still to me one of the most suspect/fucked up things in West Coast rap ever is the fact that Warren didn't produce and make beats on The Hard Way.

[d-nice]

Man this is a good thread. I personally think that the fallout of Dogghouse/Doggystyle hurt also. Snoop had some nice artists that were doing DAMAGE on the charts. The whole Doggy's Angels lawsuit with Charlie's Angels hurt them because they really could not advertise but even the single did well. Whether you want to blame it on Snoop or not, the label was really starting to take off. Same with Hoo Bangin. Mack 10 had some nice artists but he was not putting them out. Hell he even got a second chance with Da Hood and that was a slept on album. But he could not capitalize off of the buzz. That right here is the downfall of almost all our artists is the fact that our artists do not capture and do something with their albums and the buzz it has created on the streets.

Death Row even when Kurupt came back, Crooked I, Eastwood. Suge did not even put NINA's album out and I can understand the whole death issue and not putting it out but that did not stop him from putting Pac out. If he would have just took a chance and put those artists out, Death Row would still be relevant. That was right during the time when Murder Inc was poppin and you can't tell me Ja and Irv would not help out Suge and put some artists on their tracks. They were even talking about droppin a Row/Inc compilation album. I think the west has had opportunites to get back in it, but it just has not happened.

[kingwell]

-While we are waiting for "Detox" and similar albums to drop.....we might end up missing out on the next "Chronic" or "Doggystyle".....which basically means that many fans are not willing to give something new a chance because they are only looking to hear from their favorite artists...and although there haven't been any new artists to drop albums at the level of "Chronic" and "Doggystyle"....there might be some artists or camps who could be in the same stage as C.I.A. was in the 80's, meaning they are young enough to end up becoming major factors in the game, and it may just take for them to find their own sound, image, and style....but most of us will end up putting all of these artists into the same "upcoming" "unknown/nobody" category and not even giving them a chance to develop.

That's the fucking truth.  We aren't supporting the up and comers enough.  That's why I go hard for Dynasty.  These type of camps are on a come-up...  Smoke-A-Lot is gonna get cracking soon.  BWS should.  But it seems every negative move they make, people wanna diss and discard em right away.   If only they all had our "Detox Faith"...

[JMan]

The west is too judgemental.. 94-97 was the gangster era and it was cool too talk about guns, jackings and hoes... but the one thing music does is evolve no matter how hard you fight it.. so i find it strange why people seem to think that the only way the west will rise again is if the og / new artists go back to this old reciepe of gangsta g funk rap and thats why the west wont get much mainstream attension..
The artists i have confidence in are the likes of Self Scientific, dilated people, defari etc.. i feel the "conscience rap area" is a better outlet for the music and is a big step forward for the coast as i think we have lyrically some of the most gifted artists who are capable of delivering what the west really needs.. recognition for something new and not being labeled with the same sterotype of the mid 90's...

well thats my 2 cents anway folks....
 

[CaliKorleone]

To me the west revolves around Dre.  Dre dropped The Chronic, the west was hot for 5 years.  Dre dropped 2001, the west was hot for 4 years.  Dre changes the game each time.  But now Dre doesn't fuck with just the west now.  He's nationwide now.  What the west needs is for an artist to get a push.  And it looks like no one is getting a push from the West that is not a "gimmick" rapper like The Game (hardcore gangsta image) and Guerilla Black (Biggie sound alike).